In this special episode of Marketing Vanguard recorded live during Brandweek 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona, host Jenny Rooney moderates a thought-provoking debate between David Lee, creative director of web design platform Squarespace, and Rei Inamoto, founding partner of brand consultancy I&CO.
The discussion centers on the theme “Towards AI or not towards AI”, exploring the balance between artificial intelligence and human creativity in marketing.
Lee explains Squarespace’s cautious approach to AI, using it for idea validation but not final results due to legal uncertainties around data sources. He argues that human creativity will become more valuable as AI becomes ubiquitous, drawing parallels with the way people collect art for the human stories behind them.
Inamoto presents a pragmatic view of the impact of AI on the creative industries, focusing on its effectiveness and cost-effectiveness for independent professionals. He claims that since AI-generated content can achieve 90% of human-created quality for 10% of the cost, most audiences and decision-makers will opt for the more economical option.
Key points to remember:
06:13 The value of human creativity — David Lee points out that human creativity will become increasingly valuable as AI becomes ubiquitous. He argues that people connect to art and creativity because of the human stories behind them, suggesting that AI-generated content will serve the masses while human creativity becomes more exclusive.
08:03 The economic reality of AI — Rei Inamoto presents a practical perspective on the impact of AI on the creative industries, particularly for independent professionals. He claims that AI’s ability to produce work of acceptable quality at significantly lower costs will significantly affect the economics of the creative industry.
1:05 p.m. The future of creative differentiation — David Lee predicts that as AI-generated content becomes ubiquitous, companies will look for ways to differentiate themselves through unique human creativity, suggesting a potential countermovement against the homogenization of AI-generated content. ‘AI.
